I can't believe the others want to sleep at a time like this. There's a way to save him and they won't let me do it. One day. One day is all we have at most, if the servant's assessment is accurate.
The caves that were supposed to serve as entrance to this place were guarded, heavily guarded, by people we'd met before. The prisoner who'd helped us get into the castle, the three assassins and two others were ready for us, and proved more than a match. The Healer insisted on negotiating with them, though I warned him they were known assassins. When he started to talk, a ball of fire from the sorcerer surrounded him. Fortunately, the rest of us had not been so trusting. I had a spell ready and the Swordsman had used one of his strange powers to grow to several times his normal size. Despite our preparation, all was for naught. Their cleric, also magically enlarged, out-fought the Swordsman, while the others easily kept the rest of us busy. Then an orc rushed the Healer and stabbed him to death. Though nothing could be worse for us or for the world than the death of the Healer, things did not get any better. Although I managed to affect some of them with an enchantment, they still came on strong. Then I found myself surrounded by sand, which poured from the sky and kept on falling, without accumulating on the ground. I tried to push my way out but was unable. If the woman had not dispelled the effect, I as well would have been dead. When the sand dissipated, the Healer and the Swordsman were gone, and a great pit had appeared between me and the guards. The Brute and I tried to hold them off, with some help from the woman and the servant, but in the end they all had to jump into the pit to save themselves, and I transformed into a red dragon and dove in after them.
We fell into a situation we could easily handle, but with the Healer dead, it hardly mattered . The room at the bottom of the pit was full of gnolls, who we decimated. Once the Brute was convinced that I was not the Enemy, I was able to tear them apart with my teeth while the others used more conventional methods. The servant was unable to help – he'd managed to be affected by a weakening poison somewhere along the line.
We kept the last gnoll alive and the servant read his thoughts. He had no idea how to escape these caves without going back the way we came, but he knew of a city somewhere, and we learned of a large gnoll he worshipped as a god. We hurried forth, the Brute carrying the Healer's mutilated body. In one room, stalagmites with eyes dropped from the ceiling, attempting to impale all of us but only succeeding against the servant. We fought through innumerable passages, unending series of traps and dozens of gnolls. One trap involved a pool of mucus-like slime that we had to swim through to avoid passing through a field of electricity. The Brute found a sword which we later realized was making him invisible, but did not notice at the time since he was coated in the mucus, which could not be removed by any means. Later, after I trapped a tentacled creature so we could pass more quickly, we found a pair of crystal lenses attached with heavy wire, meant to be placed over the eyes.
Finally, we came to a large door. The Swordsman looked through the keyhole and saw the presumed god of the gnolls, with an impressive-looking set of bodyguards. We were turning back when someone thought of wearing the crystal lenses and looking through the keyhole again. These lenses allowed the wearer to see through illusions, and the god was revealed to be a gnome with a small compliment of gnolls. We entered and made quick work of his forces. This is why such frivolous magics are a waste of time. They can fool a few weak-minded gnolls, but in the end, they have no real effect and the illusionist is revealed to be a fraud.
We captured the gnome, who told us of the nine lords of the city we were approaching. He was most afraid of a wizard who was one of them. The wizard had made the gnome into a slave, forcing him to manage the caves with no payment but a small amount of food. We made him bring us to the slums outside this city, which sits under a volcano.
Now we wait! The servant tells me there is magic that can revive the Healer, which must be cast within a day of death. Twenty-four hours, and by the time we're done resting, there will only be seven hours left! I have a scroll which can take me to the priest's city, where the priest might help him, but the others don't want to split up. I offered to take them with me, but since I could not take the woman and the servant as well, they would not go. They wouldn't put these two insignificant characters in possible harm for the chance of saving the Healer, whose life the world depends on!
I don't know how I will sleep tonight.